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Research

APCD’s mission is to promote and advance research in diplomacy. It seeks to foster a wide range of approaches to research, much of it interdisciplinary. As the only such institute in Australia and the southern hemisphere, APCD serves as the focal point for diplomacy research at the Australian National University (ANU) – convening seminars, workshops and conferences, hosting visiting scholars, and organizing externally funded research projects as well as short courses for practitioners.

We see diplomacy as both state practice (what traditional diplomats do at embassies or at the United Nations) and social practice (what many non-state actors of consequence do in the international sphere). All of this work combines serious engagement with processes of change and emerging patterns of conflict and cooperation, on the one hand, with an emphasis on the still critical role of states, on the other. Accordingly, we seek to advance the study and practice of ‘complex diplomacy’, an approach that views contemporary diplomacy as less state-centric more connected, more adaptive, and more diverse than ever before.

Our diplomacy research covers such themes as:

Soft power and public diplomacy

Pacific diplomacy

Indigenous diplomacy

Refugee diplomacy

Strategic diplomacy

Non-state actor diplomacy

Chinese diplomacy

Diplomacy at the United Nations

APCD’s research is closely tied to its successful graduate teaching and executive training programs. APCD maintains close links with related centres at ANU and collaborates with a network of similar centres across the world.